Something for the dads.

Spinnaker research has found that dads are more engaged by audio-visual content than mums.

Online parenting forums are very much female-centric in name (mumsnet, net mums) as well as user profile. In addition, women are more likely than men to be defined by their parental status (in September 2014, a broadsheet newspaper even ran a story with the headline ‘Mother of three Poised to lead the BBC’). As a result, any savvy brands who want to know what parents think will spend many an hour loitering on forums but this might mean that dads’ opinions are lost in the volume of content shared by mums. However, our recent research highlights that although mums might talk more online, dads are more engaged with brands.

Dads more connected to brands than mums

We asked mums and dads of children under the age of five how they engage with brands and what content they like the best. We found that amongst parents, dads were far more likely than mums to have interacted with brands in the last year. Not only were dads more likely to interact with brands, but they were more likely to do so in more ways than mums. So much so that almost one in four dads connected with brands in five or more ways compared to just over one in ten mums.

Inspiring videos appeal to dads

Interestingly, almost half of dads interact with brands in order to find out information compared to just over four in ten mums. Their preferred medium is YouTube whilst for mums it’s Facebook. Dads like to be inspired by online content (26% vs 10% of mums). Perhaps because they are more likely than mums to engage via the video platform YouTube, music also has a bigger impact on dads than it does on mums.